No light
by SlytherinElektra
Summary: Someone has taken Kensi, Deeks and Eric and thrown them in a dark basement. With no light, no food, nothing. Just darkness and dust.
1. Chapter 1

It was very dark and dusty. As Kensi came to, she tried to figure out where she was and what had happened. Because her house had never that dark or that dusty.

Last thing she remembered was getting ready to go to sleep. After an action-packed day, she was really looking forward to some rest. And then she briefly woke up, sensing that someone was there. And then nothing. And then waking up in a dark and dusty place with one of her hands cuffed behind her back. Great. At least she seemed to be whole, uninjured, even if a big cloud of confusion filled her head.

She tried to focus on the place itself, on what she had in front of her. There were no lights or windows, so it took some trouble to see anything but after a while her eyes started to see some shapes. It was some sort of basement, empty but for some very old looking tore down furniture on the other side of the room and there were no windows or doors on sight. She coughed a couple of times, her lungs not used to that amount of dust everywhere. What the hell had happened? What was this place?

"Kensi?" A voice asked to her right, startled by the sound of coughing. "You okay?"

She tried to make out the blur next to her and realized it was a person, a man. With glasses and a very familiar voice… A voice that she heard many times every day…

"Kensi?"

"Eric?"

"You okay?"

"I think so. You?"

"Yeah, more or less. You wouldn't know what this place is or what we're doing here, right?"

"No idea." She said, while inspecting the handcuff in her hand looking for any kind of structural flaw to break it. "What's the last thing you remember? Did you see who brought us here?"

"No, I couldn't! I was listening to music in my room when I felt someone behind me and before I had time to react I was struck in the head. I woke up about an hour ago… at least, I think it must've been an hour, there's no way of telling in all this darkness, but after a while I saw you and called you, but you were out cold and I think someone else is next to you and I don't know who and I've tried calling for help but there's no one out there, no sound, just emptiness and I…"

"Eric, try to calm down, ok? I'm here, with you, and we'll figure this out, ok?" Kensi moved towards her friend, taking a better look at the man. Eric was wearing a white tee stained with blood (or at least, she thought it was white), a pair of dark long pants, was barefoot and his feet were stained, too. His left hand was cuffed to behind his back, just like hers, but he seemed much more shaken. Of course. He was not an agent, not even a cop, he was probably much scared than her.

"We'll get through this." Kensi told him, confident.

"I know, I know. I know."

Eric tried to keep his cool, but it was not easy. After a long day of work, he had attacked and taken from his own home. He had woken up to a dull pain in the back of his head and chained to metal bars behind him, on some dark unknown place. He had no idea how he ended up there or what was that place. It was really dark and his glasses were dirty, so I was really difficult to see. And there were two people there with him… Or were they just two bodies? He recognized the one closer to him and called her name, to no avail. He screamed for help. Nothing. He was in an unknown place, attacked, handcuffed and stuck with two unmoving people in a basement. He tried to be cool, to think positive and figure out a way to get out, but after a while it had all gotten too much. The blood stains in his clothes (he didn't know if the blood was his or someone else's and he didn't know which option scared him more) were not helping, either. But then he heard coughing and he felt relieved flooding.

Kensi was not dead.

He was not alone.

They were going to get through this.

Ok, time to focus.

"Who is the guy in your left? Is he one of us?"

Kensi looked at her left for the first time and saw an unmoving presence there. A man, shirtless, wearing only pajama bottoms, slumped against the wall behind them. Kensi could see a myriad of scars, old and new, crisscrossing his bare chest, and she was able to discern a stab wound in his stomach that had stopped bleeding not long ago and had created a small pool of blood in the grimy floor. She focused on his head next, trying to identify him. _No,_ she thought_, no, no ,no!_

"Deeks!"

Why was he so still? Why wasn't he answering? Kensi felt her levels of panic rising dangerously, before forcing herself to remain calm and collected. Now it was time to focus. There would be plenty of time to freak out after they were out of there.

"It's Deeks?" Eric asked. "Is he okay?"

"He's breathing" Kensi answered "but he's unconscious and wounded. Damn it!" She cursed, trying to get to her partner but unable to reach him. He was far enough that she couldn't get close to him to try and wake him up, but close enough that she could see how badly he was injured. God, where did all those bruises come from? Apparently, Deeks had put up quite a fight before being taken. _Good for him, _Kensi thought, even if her pride was mixed with concern.

"Who would do this?" Whispered Kensi, trying to figure it out. "I mean, Deeks and I, we have our fair share of enemies, and we're partners, someone could've taken us to get revenge on NCIS, but you? Who knows about you, Eric? About what you do."

"No one." He said, trying to ignore his growing headache "I've told everyone that I'm a computer tech for the government. I haven't even mentioned the Navy. I really don't understand."

Kensi didn't understand, either. Why were they there? If they wanted a hostage, why take three instead of one?

Upstairs, a man watched the live feed of the three trophies he had locked in his basement. It hadn't been easy, but now he got where he wanted them. And one of them was pretty badly injured.

He smiled.

This was going to be so easy.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: And the plot thickens! Thank you for support to the first chapter ^^ Hope you like this one too. Feedback is highly apreciated!

The first time Marty Deeks opened his eyes all he could see was black, pitch black. He coughed, several times, trying to get rid of all the dust floating towrds him and vaguely heard someone calling his name. But he couldn't focus. He closed his eyes and kept them shut. Before he could realize what was happening, before he could figure out where the hell he was, he passed out again.

The next time he opened his eyes it was still real dark but he could start seeing some things. He was on the ground, in some sort of windowless basement and one of his hands was cuffed behind his back. Great. Just great. Another one his enemies had taken him. In his home. He tried to move but then the pain resurfaced. Raw pain from his stab wound, a dull ache across his bruised chest, sharp pain shooting from his broken ankle. Little by little, the memories of the attack started coming back to him.

A big man had appeared out of nowhere, completely dressed in black, wearing black gloves and a black ski mask and tried to knock him out with some chloroform but he'd been take him down and lands a couple of blows to his attacker. Deeks had then tried to reach for his gun, but before he could grab it the other man was onto him, repeatedly punching him in the stomach. Once and again, once and again, until Deeks was almost unmoving. He had played dead and when the other man was least expecting it he reached for his gun again. No such luck. The man in black had come to him again and stabbed him in the stomach, viciously. After that, Deeks tried to escape the man's grip, but soon felt the darkness overwhelm him.

"Deeks? Can you hear me? Deeks?"

There was a voice, a familiar feminine voice calling his name. _Focus, Marty, focus_. Through the pain, he looked to the place were the voice was coming and saw her. Saw her eyes.

"Kensi?"

She smiled, relieved that this time he was functional and recognizing people. When he'd awokened, a couple of hours before and passed out again without answering her calls or uttering a single word it had scared her. What if he was badly injured than she could see? What if he needed urgent medical assistance? What if...?

"What is this place, Kens?"

His voice brought her back to reality. It was way too easy too lose oneself in thought in all this darkness and silence.

"I wish I knew. We were abducted from our own homes and so far no one has come to explain why are we here or what do they want with us- We know nothing. You all right, Deeks?"

"Been better. Whoever that man is, he is no stranger to the arts of beating people." He said, trying to pull himself in a sitting position, pain clear in his eyes. "You?"

"I'm good. Were you able to take a look at this guy while you fought?" Kensi asked, hopeful.

"All I could see were black clothes, black gloves and black ski mask. Big guy, must've been six feet at least, moved quick. That's all I can tell you, sorry."

"It's more than we know, at least."

"We?" Deeks asked, confused. Focusing a bit more he glimpsed a pair of unknown legs on the other side of the room.

"Eric is with us, too." Kensi said.

"Hey, Deeks" Came Eric's voice from the other side of the basement.

He was really glad to hear the blonde's voice, and to feel he was functional, too. If you were kidnapped and locked in a basement, it was better to be kidnapped in the company of two badass federal agents, right?

"No, this is good, I mean, not for you, Eric, obviously but... This means we can rule out most of the usual suspects. The people we arrested, the terrorists and small thiefs, they don't know who Eric is, they wouldn't go after him. Question is, who knows about him?"

"The rest of the people who work in our building. Detectives and officers from LAPD and other agencies. The cleaning staff, I guess." The blonde answered, wiping his glasses with his one free hand for the umpteenth time.

"Inside job, most probably."

"Damn it! That's the last place to look. Always." Kensi complained. It would be so much easier for G and the others if they were being held by a notorious felon who'd threatened a couple of times this week. But whining was not the answer, they had to do something. "Ok, let's focus. Top priority is not finding out the attacker, is getting out of here. I'll keep working on this cuffs, Eric, you inspect every inch of your end of the room, look for something sharp to open the cuffs or any sort of escapeway."

"Will do!" He said, putting his glasses back on.

"What about me?" Deeks asked.

"I don't want you moving around much with that stab wound and those bruises. We have to minimize the risk of infection or internal bleeding. We're already in big trouble as it is."

"But... wait, what is that smell?"

It had seeming ly come out of nowhere and was soon filling the little air.

"Gas." Deeks said, alarmed, voicing the fears of his two friends.

The effect was almost inmediate.

Eric was unconscious in less than a minute.

Then Kensi.

When Deeks closed his eyes, he only wished this was not the last time.

* * *

"Where is everyone?" Asked Nell to no one in particular in that bright Monday morning at work.

Much to her surprise, Callen answered her question, appearing out of the blue.

"We got a call from LAPD saying that Deeks is with them, preparing an undercover mission, Eric is sick and Kensi... Well, Kensi is late."

"Nobody likes Mondays, huh?"

"Exactly. We'll tell you if we need something but I predict a very boring day." Said Callen and left for his desk, leaving her alone in the room with a bunch of computers. Boring indeed. If only she had Eric to talk to... Nell made a mental note to send him a get well card, maybe even drop by his place, to see how he was.

Shortly after Callen's departure, a chat box appeared in one of the computers. She didn't recognize the sender or the program itself. Odd.

_"Hello, Miss Jones._

_I have something you seem to have misplaced."_

And then a link. The sensible part of her said that it could a virus or something equally dangerous but curiosity got the best of her.

The link opened a video feed of a basement. Nell gasped when she saw who was there. Chained, blood stained and unmoving were Kensi, Deeks and Eric. Still and dirty. It was like a horror movie.

_"Don't worry, they are only unconscious... for now._

_If you follow my orders they have a chance to live and get out of this hell hole._

_But if you say a word, tell someone or doubt my orders, I'll start killing. _

_Your friends' lives are in your hands, Miss Jones."_


	3. Chapter 3

Nell could not believe what she was seeing.

She looked again at the video feed and nothing had changed. It showed some sort of dark room, like a basement, and there they were, her co-workers, her friends. Barely recognisable between the poor lighting and particles of dust in the camera lens where three people. Deeks, half-naked and injured, Kensi in the centre, her head slumped in her left shoulder and in the other corner, Eric. Her partner and friend, cute little Eric, knocked unconscious in some dark basement. And all because they wanted HER to do something, apparently. Nell decided she didn't like Mondays either.

Now it was her turn.

_How do I know this is happening now and they're still alive? You could easily make a recording look like a live feed._

She asked. If she was going to do something illegal she wanted to have some certainties. Plus, if whoever was on the other line sent someone with today's newspaper they would appear in the camera and maybe give her a clue to investigate later.

_You cannot know that. I could be deceiving you, but I'm not. They are alive right now. _

_And you will do as I say because if you don't I can kill any of them._

_Is that a chance you want to take, Miss Jones?_

Dammit! Part one of the plan had completely failed. Now she had no clues and no certainty whatsoever that her friends were actually alive. The thought of the three of them, dead in that dark room made her shiver. No, they were all right, she told herself, taking a steadying breath. They had to be.

_Cheer up, Miss Jones._

_If you do everything I ask, no questions asked, 100% discretion, maybe, who knows, I will consider setting one of them free. _

Well, that was not good enough. Nell wanted to see her friends again but she wasn't going to fall for cheap manipulation. She'd seen enough extortionist to know how to avoid tricks like vague language.

_If you want me to do something and do it well, I'll need more guarantees than that._

_I want to speak with one of them, then we can talk._

Maybe it had been too much. Had it been too much? Nell couldn't really tell. She regretted everything she did or didn't do moments after. God, why her? And why someone had to take her friends? The reply on the chat came only moments later.

_Feeling bold, aren't we? _

_Well, if you're not going to cooperate I guess I'll have to kill one of them to show you how alive they are, motivate you a bit. _

_See, that's the good thing about multiple hostages, you see? I can kill one of them to show you how serious I am (I think I'll start with the injured one, put him out of his misery) or I could release one of them to show you my gratitude. _

_Your call._

Nell felt like banging her head on a wall. This person, whoever it was, seemed to always be two steps ahead. And the captor was right, he could easily kill one of them and still have plenty of leverage. And maybe, just maybe he was serious about releasing someone. Maybe this man had no intention of killing anyone and only wanted some millions in his account courtesy of NCIS. Nell thought of all of Deeks' jokes, his contagious the man was serious about killing him to prove how serious he was... She couldn't put his life in danger that way. She wanted to be strong and not cave in to that man's demands but the thoughts of one of them being dead... She simply couldn't take the chance. It was all too much.

_What do you want me to do?_

Maybe at least his answer would give her a clue.

_You made the right choice, Miss Jones._

_Now, I want you to incriminate Agent Callen of a murder and send the incriminating evidence to your director. Be creative: tamper with security footage, forge some documents. I'm sure you can come up with something good, an intelligent woman like you. _

_When you're done you'll send it to me for my approval. I don't need to tell you that if it's not good enough or it's hiding some sort of clue for your cop friends there will be consequences. When it's approved you will send it to the NCIS director and await more instructions._

_Is that understood?_

_Frame Agent Callen or live with the consequences._

It was all too much.

* * *

When Kensi woke up again, she barely remembered what had happened. She was not at home or at work, something had happened... She looked around, only to be greeted by darkness and that foul smell places get when they've been closed for too long. Oh, yeah. They've been kidnapped. And then there had been gas. At least, it was not fatal, because this was certainly not heaven.

She got into a more comfortable sitting position and went to check on the boys.

"Deeks? Eric?" she asked "Is anyone awake?"

Nothing. Only silence. Both men were apparently asleep probably still victim of that mystery gas.

Kensi noted, with growing unease, that she had completely lost track of time. She didn't know how much time had passed before she woke up the first and she didn't know how long this gas-nap had been. Had it been a whole day? Less? More? Were their captors going to let them starve and die there or eventually show up and tell them something? The uncertainty was something she hated. When you knew what you were up against you had something to hold on to, and even if sometimes it was difficult, you could have a chance at gaining the upper hand. _Know your enemy_, she'd heard more a thousand times. But what could be done when your enemy was a shadow, a ghost? All this waiting was killing her.

Trying to distract herself, she went back to trying to open the cuffs. She thought she'd found a weak link earlier but now even that seemed to be gone. Maybe the captor had changed the cuffs while she was out cold. Maybe there hadn't been a weak link at all and it was all a trick of her mind to give her hope. Oh, how she was wishing for a distraction now.

"Eric? Deeks? You guys awake yet?"

Nothing. Only silence.

The minutes came and went and hers were the only open eyes in that hellish basement.

"Deeks? Eric?" No answer. Nothing. "Please!"

A/N: Did you like it? I hope so! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Sorry for any English mistakes! It is not my mother language. In the next chapter we'll know more about the attackers...

You know you want to review! ^^


	4. Chapter 4

After what seemed to be an eternity, someone finally answered.

"Could you keep it down, Kensi? My head hurts." Said Eric's voice. At last!

"Eric! You're OK? When I woke up after the gas and you guys weren't answering, I just... I was starting to wonder if that gas was poisonous or something. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, well, as good as one can be in a situation like this. You good too?"

"Yes, but Deeks is not answering. I guess it'll take longer for him because of his injuries and all that." She looked at her partner, but he was still unconscious, still in the same place.

"Deeks?" Nothing. No answer.

"I'm sure he'll be OK." Eric said, managing a small smile. Positive thinking, right?

"Yeah, let's hope so." Kensi said, going to working on her cuffs.

"What do you think that gas was for?" Eric asked, cleaning his glasses with his one free hand. God, how he hated that place.

"I don't know. Maybe the captors came to change something, maybe it was just to play with us, maybe they wanted to kill us or move us but changed their minds... We don't have a damn clue or anything to go on. Not the slightest sign of this guy's identity or his motives. An I am starting to get tired of waiting."

"Yeah, me too." Eric was tired, hungry, dirty, in pain (the dull ache in his head had become a pounding headache) and, worst of all, he needed to pee. But he had no place to do so, he didn't want to do it in front of Kensi and if he did all the place would stink. He tried to remember better times. The beach. Laughing with Nell at work. The day his got his job. Winning that award in high school. He imagined himself out of that hole, clean, free, the sun beating down in his face.

"Eric?" Kensi didn't like it when her _cellmates_ closed their eyes for too long, made her paranoid about their injuries. What if they lost consciousness and never came back again? Being imprisoned with two colleagues she could manage, being with the bodies of two friends not so much.

After a while, Eric opened his eyes and looked at her through those dusty glasses.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Eric. You and Deeks both. I promise."

Eric half-smiled and Kensi continued working on those apparently indestructible cuffs. She'd made a promise and she had every intention of keeping it.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Back at NCIS, Nell was knee deep on the "frame Callen" business and was amazed how easy the whole thing was turning out to be. Callen had many cases with few to no details and a lot of deaths surrounding him which made it very easy for her to frame him. Some grainy security footage altered with an video-editing program, a fake LAPD police report explaining their doubts about Agent Callen's behaviour in that case, a very colourful witness statement that had been recently declassified and _voilà!_ they had a perfectly solid case against Callen. Nell added a digital folders with pictures of the crime scene, the weapon, etc to back her story, just in case. She would've been proud of her work if it wasn't for its purpose.

But right now, what mattered the most was getting her friends away from that bastard in one piece. They could get Callen out of jail after Deeks, Kensi and Eric were safely back home. Maybe thinking that the captor would release them was a bit naïve, but it was the only way she could avoid breaking down. They would be back. The would be back, no doubt, and together, they would sort out everything. Nell checking everything for the last time, Nell contacted the captor (whose screen name was _Anonymous; _not a big help there) and sent him the info through that shadow program.

_Very well, Miss Jones. I'll contact you in an hour with further instructions._

Hell, it was going to be the longest hour of her life.

_If everything's good we can talk about who to release._

What? She would have something to do with that choice? She'd assumed he would order that, the same way he was ordering around on everything.

How could she ever choose who to save and who to leave there rotting? It was Sophie's choice but with co-workers.

Eric. Eric. Pick Eric.

No, no, she couldn't choose him just because he was her best friend. And closest co-worker. And because she missed him and wished he was there with her babbling some not-so-funny joke that he made funny with his awkward charm. No, no. She should consider other things. The three of tem deserved to get out of there, they should have the same chances.

Plus, Deeks was injured she should probably choose him so they could take him to a hospital or something. That would be the sensible thing to do, choose the person using an objective reason like that. But she really couldn't bear the thought of leaving Eric there in that hell, in the hands of some maniac... What if he was injured too and she couldn't see it in her screen? What if she was leaving him to die?

_You did good, Miss Jones._

_Now it's my turn to show how good a man I can be._

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next Deeks woke up there was a faint smell of ammonia in the air. Somehow, the place didn't look so dark as before. Maybe he was getting used to it. Maybe not. There only thing he was sure about was that they to get out of there. And fast. The wound in his stomach was starting to bother him too much and was starting to feel faint. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but it seemed to be a long time. Well, maybe while he'd been out Kensi and Eric had done some progress.

When he looked, there was nothing were she used to be. Kensi was gone.

"Eric! Eric! Where's Kensi? What happened? Eric?"

But Eric was opening his eyes now, with no recollection of falling asleep at all.

"Eric!"

"M' head hurts. Stop." Everything was blurry again. Why was everything so blurry?

"Eric, Kensi is gone. Do you know what happened? Did you see anything?"

This was no time for doubts. Kensi could be injured or worse. Deeks knew that if someone had come to save her they wouldn't have left them there, in the basement. No, something bad had happened. He needed to know just how bad it was.

"She's gone? But I was just talking to her. She said she would get out of here." It made no sense.

"And you're sure you haven't seen or heard anything, why or how they've taken her away?"

"I..." Eric tried hard to remember, but nothing came "I'm sorry. I guess I passed out... Maybe she'll come back later. Maybe she escaped and has gone to find help for us."

And leave them abandoned there? Didn't sound like Kensi.

"Let's hope so."

But his gut told Deeks that the truth was far more ugly than that.

There was little room for positive thinking when you have no light to guide you.

No light and almost no hope.

A/N: Did you like it? No? How will the captor deal with Kensi and Nell both knowing what's going on? Will they keep it quiet long enough to save our damaged knights? Hope you liked it! Please do review! I'm loving all the feedback.

P.S. To AlicinhaMB99: I really appreciate the effort you did translating you review to french (it's always nice hearing something other than english) but I'm not a french person, so there's no need for translation. Mais je comprends bein le français, alors, si quelqu'un veut laisser un commentaire en français il y a pas de problème. O en español. Italiano è anche ben. To sum up, you can review in whatever language you like, but english is fine. To the rest, big thank you for your kind words! Hope you enjoyed this chapter too. Sorry for the rant!

P.P.S. The next chapter will have more Deeks! And plot! You know you want to review!


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